Dallas Cowboys Draft Grade

[Yeagermeister]

How did we do?

#9. Tyron Smith, OT, USC

#40. Bruce Carter, LB, North Carolina

#71. DeMarco Murray, RB, Oklahoma

#110. David Arkin, OL, Missouri St

#143. Joshua Thomas, DB, Buffalo

#176. Dwayne Harris, WR, East Carolina

#220. Shaun Chapas, FB, Georgia

#252. Bill Nagy, C, Wisconsin

 

[justbob]

How did we do?

B --Could be an A in a year or two

 

[tm1119]

Gave us a C. Liked the 1st, 3rd and 4th round picks, but wasnt crazy about any of the other picks. Didnt hate the Carter pick though since he has a ton of upside. Ill go in the middle with a C since we did fairly well in the more important early rounds.

 

[ZeroClub]

Reasonable choices were made and the team seems to have gotten good quality for their drafting position.

I give it a solid B, although it simultaneously feels like a hollow victory.

Smith is a great addition, but he introduces a longer range salary cap management problem. Free deserves to be paid as a quality starting LT. Ultimately, Smith will merit similar money and the Cowboys simply won't be willing to pay two starting LT salaries. My guess is that Free will be the odd man out. It's not the end of the world if Smith develops into a Hall of Famer, but it is unfortunate that the Cowboys' current best OL likely has a limited horizon on the team.

Carter is needed in part because of previous draft whiffs. (And although he's a fan favorite, is anybody really willing to bet the house that Sean Lee is going to stay healthy?)

Murray - The Cowboys have pretty much mismanaged the RB position since Emmitt Smith left. They passed on Steven Jackson, drafted Julius Jones instead, got a few very solid years out of MBIII, and then promptly overpaid and overestimated him. In part because the Cowboys mistakenly assumed that MBIII was a top-tier primary RB, the Cowboys picked a luxury ancillary back in Felix Jones (instead of Mendenhall), and picked Choice as MBIII's primary backup (instead of Mendenhall). And so now the Cowboys need Murray to pan out so Jerry can finally stop chasing his own tail at this position.

Arkin – I'm happy to have him and hope he works out. (But how long has it been since the Cowboys have managed to draft their own quality starting Guard? Seriously, how long?)

Thomas appears promising and well worth a #5. And once you get beyond #5, it is difficult to argue or find fault. …. maybe Harris, Chapas, and even Nagy can find a way to contribute.

 

[supercowboy8]

I only liked the 1st,2nd and 5th round picks. So I gave a C

 

[TheCount]

I want to say B, but I'll have to go C for now. I don't like the RB or ILB pick, even though I live the RB and ILB a lot as players.

At some point we're going to have to take the trenches seriously but we did enough to put it off a little while. I'm really hoping Arkin and Smith pan out, the fact that Houck said Smith has a chance to play LT in a few years completely validated him for me.

I had said the only reason to take Smith at #9 was if he was going to play LT, and that seems to be the plan.

It's a solid draft though, and obviously a grade right after the draft means nothing.

 

[Nirvana]

Considering how many of our draft picks are rehabbing a bad wheel, it's hard to give better than a B. But we made no significant mistakes, addressed needs and didn't reach or get desperate.

 

[TheCount]

Considering how many of our draft picks are rehabbing a bad wheel, it's hard to give better than a B. But we made no significant mistakes, addressed needs and didn't reach or get desperate.

The most shocking thing to me was that we didn't make a single trade.

 

[jazzcat22]

How did we do?

#9. Tyron Smith, OT, USC

#40. Bruce Carter, LB, North Carolina

#71. DeMarco Murray, RB, Oklahoma

#110. David Arkin, OL, Missouri St

#143. Joshua Thomas, DB, Buffalo

#176. Dwayne Harris, WR, East Carolina

#220. Shaun Chapas, FB, Georgia

#252. Bill Nagy, C, Wisconsin

I gave a B, only because I'm just optimistic. Probably more a B-, or a High C+ [if there is such a thing, but there is now]

1st 2 picks, awesome, not high on a RB with #3, as I thought we could have went S or CB here, and took the RB later. Like the later OL picks. Not sure about a FB, but we do need the competition to find a long term answer there. Liked the WR pick, but wish he has a little more speed. But that's ok, speed isn't everything sometimes. (see Stanback & others)

 

[THUMPER]

I gave a C but it was really a C- as the only potential starter we took was Tyron Smith. I don't see any of the other players as likely to win a starting job with us anytime in the near future.

Murray would likely see some playing time, especially if we lose Barber, but he would still be behind Felix Jones and Tashard Choice so...

I would have given a D but I am giving our staff the benefit of the doubt and hoping they actually knew what they were doing on some of these guys. Most of them look like guys who are there for depth or STs but only Smith is a real player IMO.

 

[Shinywalrus]

I gave a C, primarily because I get pretty uncomfortable with spending a #2 and #3 on guys who are coming off of or have had recurring injuries. They could be great players for us for 10 years, but it's a question of where you load up on risk. I'd rather we did it late.

And while you have to give Jerry credit for not getting too cute, with the benefit of perfect hindsight I think we would have been better off taking the deal that was on the table to trade back in Round 1.

 

[Randy White]

B, but I wanted to give them a B+.

They didn't get the players that I was hoping they did, but they drafted solid players with good chance of not only making the roster, but starting at some point. My only issue with it, and the reason why I didn't give them an A or A+, is that they didn't trade down in any of the rounds to get more picks and consequently more talent.


And by the way, those of you who say you can't judge a draft right away, Helmet Hair ( aka: Mel Kiper ), makes an excellent point disputing that opinion:

We changed the draft grades a little this year. Now, the obvious complaint we always hear is, "You can't really grade a draft for a few years." Not true. You can't assess the performance of the players drafted for a few years, but you can assess the degree to which teams maximized value while filling needs. That's what this is. I ask: To what degree did teams fill roster gaps? And with each selection, did they get the most possible value out of that spot on the board? Then we balance the two.

I thought of something related to this yesterday. I think that drafts should be evaluated in stages. Kiper's idea would be Stage 1. The way the players are developed would be Stage 2. Then, eventually, the players contributions would be Stage 3. This system should satisfy just about everyone who follows football and the draft.

 

[SMCowboy]

Arkin – I'm happy to have him and hope he works out. (But how long has it been since the Cowboys have managed to draft their own quality starting Guard? Seriously, how long?)

Well Dallas did draft Stephen Peterman who has proven to be a solid NFL caliber starting guard, but because of injury they gave up on him to quickly....

 

[YosemiteSam]

I would go with a B to maybe an A-. If Carter pans out, a definite A.